Pdfppehrc Complaint.Pdf

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA : POOR PEOPLE’S ECONOMIC HUMAN : RIGHTS CAMPAIGN, : : Plaintiff, : : v. : : CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, : : Defendant. : : COMPLAINT INTRODUCTION 1. The nominating convention of one of our country’s two major political parties presents an unparalleled opportunity for individuals and organizations to participate in the democratic process through the exercise of their rights of free speech and assembly. The Democratic National Convention (“DNC”) in late July will draw thousands of delegates, as well as the Democratic Party’s major campaign contributors, lobbyists, and both credentialed and uncredentialed members of the media. It will thus provide an opportunity for groups and individuals to voice their opinions directly to the leaders and decision-makers of the Democratic Party, to national and international media, and to people across the country and around the world who will watch Convention coverage. 2. Plaintiff Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign (“PPEHRC”) is a social justice coalition that wants the visitors and Convention attendees to hear about, see, and 1 understand the poverty that afflicts Philadelphia. On the opening day of the Republican National Convention in 2000, PPEHRC and thousands of poor residents of the city marched from City Hall to the Wells Fargo Center in order to confront the nation’s political leaders with the necessity of taking action to address poverty. PPEHRC believes that the plight of the poor in Philadelphia has only worsened since 2000, and PPEHRC and its members seek to repeat their march from the seat of Philadelphia government to the doorstep of the DNC on the opening day of the Convention to confront the Democratic Party leadership with the continuing failure of the government to address the suffering of poor people. 3. The City has refused to issue a permit for the march because it would fall within the City’s unwritten ban on political marches in Center City streets between the hours of 3 PM and 6 PM. PPEHRC seeks preliminary and permanent injunctive relief declaring the City’s ban on afternoon marches to be a violation of the First Amendment. JURISDICTION 4. Plaintiff brings this action under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 in order to vindicate its rights protected by the First and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. The Court has jurisdiction over this civil rights action pursuant to 28 U.S.C. § 1331(a) and § 1343(a)(3) and (4). This Court has jurisdiction pursuant to 28 U.S.C. §§ 2201 and 2202 to declare the rights of the parties and to grant all further relief found necessary and proper. 2 PARTIES 5. Plaintiff PPEHRC is a multi-racial, intergenerational movement made up of poor, low- income, and homeless families across the country. It is organized around the universal declaration of human rights and dedicated to taking up where Dr. Martin Luther King left off on building a poor people’s movement. Its goal is to eliminate poverty. 6. Defendant City of Philadelphia is a political subdivision of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and manages, directs, and controls the Philadelphia Office of Special Events. FACTS 7. Beginning on July 25, 2016, the City of Philadelphia will host the 2016 Democratic National Convention (“DNC” or the “Convention”). The Convention will take place at the Wells Fargo Center in South Philadelphia, approximately 3.5 miles south of Center City. It is one of several large venues to the east of Broad Street in South Philadelphia that, collectively, are known as the Sports Complex. The Wells Fargo Center is surrounded by extensive parking lots and a perimeter fence. The lot on which it sits spans the equivalent of several city blocks, from Broad Street on the west to 11th Street on the east, and from Pattison Avenue on the north to Interstate 95 on the South. 8. The Wells Fargo Center is not near any residential or business neighborhoods. It does not attract any pedestrian traffic, except when there is a sporting or other event at the Center. Most people reach the Wells Fargo Center by car or by the SEPTA Broad Street Line (the subway), which terminates at AT&T Station at Broad and Pattison. 9. Apart from the other venues that make up the Sports Complex, the only other venue in the neighborhood of the Wells Fargo Center is Franklin Delano Roosevelt Park (“FDR Park” or 3 the “Park”), a large park that spans from Broad Street on the east nearly to 26th Street on the west, and from Pattison Avenue on the north to Interstate 95 on the south. FDR Park’s 348 acres host a number of different facilities, including a golf course, tennis courts, baseball diamonds, a skate park, and many other facilities. 10. The City has committed to providing certain amenities for protesters in FDR Park, including portable toilets, misting stations, and water. The United States Secret Service has stated that it intends to build a fence along the west side of Broad Street to prevent protesters in the Park from entering the portion of Broad Street outside the Wells Fargo Center. 11. Most of the Convention activity at the Wells Fargo Center will occur during the evenings of July 25-28. During the day, DNC delegates and associated visitors will be attending meetings and other events spread throughout Center City, including at the Pennsylvania Convention Center at Broad and Arch Streets. 12. PPEHRC and its members want to march from Center City, where they will be seen and heard by both visitors and Philadelphians alike, down Broad Street to FDR Park across from the Wells Fargo Center. They want to start their march at 3 PM on July 25, which would enable them to reach FDR Park approximately the same time that the DNC formally starts inside the Wells Fargo Center. PPEHRC anticipates that it will have about 500 participants in its march. 13. The City of Philadelphia has promulgated regulations that require a permit for any protest, demonstration, or march of 75 or more people. The process for obtaining such permits is set forth in the Regulations Governing Permits For Demonstrations on City Property (“Demonstration Policy”) issued by the Office of the Managing Director (“MDO”). 4 14. The Demonstration Policy requires that an applicant for a demonstration or march permit fill out a form and submit that with a $20 processing fee, plus either proof of insurance or an affidavit attesting to the applicant’s inability to afford insurance for the event. 15. The Demonstration Policy requires that the City grant or deny an application within two business days of the receipt of the application, which period the City may extend for up to two more business days if the proposed event is more than 20 days in the future. 16. On April 5, 2016, PPEHRC submitted a permit request, with the required fee, to the City’s Office of Special Events (“OSE”). 17. On May 5, 2016, PPEHRC received a letter from the OSE denying its request for a march permit. The letter’s explanation of why the permit was being denied consisted solely of language excerpted from the Demonstration Policy: The Demonstration will substantially or unnecessarily interfere with traffic in the area contiguous to the activity, and will unreasonably disrupt movement or circulation of vehicular or pedestrian traffic (See Permit Policy for Demonstrations Section 7, Subsection B, Paragraph 7). The proposed Demonstration conflicts or interferes with a previously scheduled, annual, or otherwise regularly-held event or ceremony that is sponsored by or on behalf of the City or any other person or entity at the same City Property for the same date and time (See Permit Policy for Demonstrations Section 7, Subsection B, Paragraph 4). Letter from Jazelle M. Jones, Deputy Managing Director/Director of Operations, City of Philadelphia, Office of the Managing Director, Office of Special Events, to Cheri Honkala, Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, May 5, 2016. 18. Through subsequent communications with the City Law Department, PPEHRC’s counsel learned that the City had decided to refuse all applications for marches on Broad Street during the 5 DNC, and that the OSE had an unwritten policy that it would refuse all applications for marches in “Center City” during the hours of 7 AM to 9 AM and 3 PM to 6 PM on weekdays, which the OSE calls “rush hour.” 19. After objection from PPEHRC’s counsel and others, the City announced that it would allow some marches on Broad Street, but held firm to the ban on afternoon marches in “Center City” starting at 3 PM. 20. The City has not defined “Center City” for purposes of its afternoon ban on street protests. In separate City regulations, “Center City” is defined in various ways, generally encompassing all City blocks from the Schuylkill River to the Delaware River, as far north as Vine or Spring Garden Streets and as far south as South Street. This area encompasses approximately four square miles. 21. In contrast to its ban on Center City street protests between the hours of 3 PM and 6 PM, the City routinely authorizes extended street closures on Center City streets during this time on weekdays. Examples from the City’s Events webpages of street closures that extended into “rush hour” from just the past few months include: • Friday, April 8, 2016: closure of Market Street and 15th Street, beginning at 11 AM and lasting into the late afternoon for a Parade and Rally at Dilworth Park to celebrate the Villanova Wildcats’ victory in the NCAA basketball Championship. The westernmost road closures opened as the parade arrived at City Hall, but some streets remained detoured past 3 PM and the City warned that vehicles might not be able to exit garages along the parade route until after 4 PM.

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